


Give Me Love

by CrowdedFaces



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: AU, Bit angsty at first, F/F, Fluff, I suck at this, Idk what I am doing really, Romance, help me what tags do I add, oh well, police officer, twice
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-21
Updated: 2018-06-19
Packaged: 2019-04-25 20:47:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14386815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrowdedFaces/pseuds/CrowdedFaces
Summary: Inspired by the music video for "Give Me Love" by Ed Sheeran. Mina was alone, that was, until, she met Police Officer Chaeyoung in...unusual circumstances. Over time they become closer as they figure out exactly how they feel about each other.Just gonna give a quick content warning here: while I'm not sure any of the archive warnings apply there is some stuff in here that I don't think some sensitive people would like to see so please read with discretion.





	1. Prologue: Fallen Wings

**Author's Note:**

> There are slight allusions to serious topics, please read with discretion.

She wasn’t sure when people started leaving her life. There wasn’t really a definite point where it happened...it just kind of...did.

It was probably when uni fell through for her; all her friends went off to locations all over the place and then got jobs, forgetting their promises to stay in touch as soon as they had had a taste of their new lives. Most people walked through their doors and out of her life. She watched them go.

Mina just remained...Mina. Unchanged.

She just stayed.

It was a gradual process - much like falling in love - only there was no one there to hold her when she finally hit the ground. Now she had been left alone, not a single person left in the world to turn to.

It had come to the point where she purposely avoided other people. She told herself that it was better - that her isolation was a way to shield herself from further hurt and pain. In reality she had just forgotten how to talk to them.

She had a small job at a corner shop, working unsociable hours behind the counter and accepting money from all sorts. Most didn’t even give her a second glance. On her way home sometimes she’d go into alleys just to hide from others, ending up being an unwitting witness to couples’ most private and intimate moments. Other times (when she could afford it) she’d sit in cafes, sipping lukewarm coffee from a bland polystyrene cup whilst swallowing back the harsh electric light just so to feel a little more human.

Home was a cold place. The simple wooden door did nothing to stop the draughts whistling through in time with the kettle on the portable gas stove and the brickwork had been long-exposed, providing little in the way of of insulation. Any washing that took place had to be done using the tiny sink and always lacked warmth.

That was why she didn’t bother a lot of the time. She let her hair tangle, let dirt become trapped beneath her nails, let her tank tops turn grimy and her fingerless gloves run threadbare. It was better that way, it was cheaper. That’s what she told herself when she didn’t pay the electricity bills and slept on the lone mattress on the floor.

She let herself become decrepid, fading into her own background, running her fingers over worthless imitation necklaces with symbols she stopped appealing to lifetimes ago.

She had used to carve things, making something out of lifeless wood. Now lifeless wood figures stood slumped against each other, forgotten along with the ordered rows of hilted tools.

 

 **Maybe she’d just given up on herself - everyone had already given up on her**.

 

Then came the itch.

She found herself again, looking at that lone bloody feather, pure white stained with her own blood.

The tools suddenly became useful again, each discarded feather became fletchings and the wood took on a whole new meaning and sharpened form. All the while her models began to dance by her hand.

She was curious.

She remembered the first pair well, two friends with blonde hair talking and laughing their way through the twisted streets home. Perhaps it reminded her too much of the past - so she gave them a future instead, an arrow finding its way into a back and curious lips meeting for the first time outside of dreams.

This was a different itch to scratch but scratch it was nevertheless what she wanted to do. So she did it again. This time it was in an underpass, distant echoes of the traffic mixing with the hurried footsteps of the two. She almost let them miss each other, but then her bow string released and slackened, the man jolted a little and then soon they were both ambling along, sharing a laugh together as they brushed past her wings.

 

Mina thought that she’d felt a little fluttering, so she chased it.

 

She chased it on the train, riding the tube along with the late-night commuters as they fought off sleep, travelling home to loved ones.

She chased it in the city lights, winking at all passers-by, dull imitations of the stars they claimed themselves to be.

She chased it when people said goodbye at doorsteps and hello in alleyways.

 

**Still she did not find it.**

 

Instead something sprouted within her, green, shooting up in the darkness and reaching for the distant light. It grew, consuming her insides as it spiraled unwaveringly upwards. Her wooden figurine was now alone, abandoned by the other in the night, like her.

The second time curiosity gripped her, it was different. She struck him first, watched him kiss the new love of his life with eager impatience. Then the second arrow flew, reaching her target. It wasn’t an accident - her bow was well-worn in ways that only frequent use could wear - but she hadn’t intended it to go before the moment had arrived. That something had taken her emptiness, made her fire that next arrow, hitting his waiting friend.

Watching them curse each other, debate with their fists didn’t make her feel full, it just emphasised how lacking she was.

That was a familiar feeling by now; it was something that she couldn’t escape.

Everywhere she went, she could only see the couples absorbed in each other: When she worked, a pair would often rush in, fumbling for something on the shelves and tossing coins at her before all but pulling each other out of the shop; when she walked home, quiet whispers would often meet her ears - the sweet susurrations of loving couples caressing the air; even when she sat alone in one of the cafes one of the ice skaters on tv stopped to smile at a special someone in the crowd.

 

**She tried everything.**

 

She made more fight, and even more love. No matter what she did, both ends of the spectrum ignored her. She tried.

Bodies weaved around her, dancing in the night.

Bare skin was traced with arrows, hearts pierced by deep-plunging strikes forging new paths for them, giving them new eyes to see through.

 

**Yet still they did not see.**

  
  


She was nothing.

 

She did so much.

 

But she was still nothing.

 

She felt so empty, so lost.

 

Was she even living by now?

 

Everything she did wasn’t enough.

 

They were watched,

 

always watched,

 

still the watcher felt nothing.

 

**She didn’t exist.**

 

But maybe she could do something.

She just wanted something to change.

She could change things.

**She would change it.**

 

She heard the crackle of the phone in her hand, the tinny voice of the person calling out to her, trying to establish where she was. It was the first company she’d had in years. That’s all she wanted, someone to talk to - to tell her thoughts to - but now, given the opportunity, she couldn’t. She couldn’t communicate everything...there was just too much.

So she communicated the only thing on her mind.

“I’m going to do it.”

And then she hung up.

 

_She allowed herself to be caught in the throes of another curiosity for the third time, chasing it over the edge._

 

D

e

e

p

 

 

b

r

e

a

t

h

s

  
  


**And then she did it.**


	2. New Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Enter: Chaeyoung

_**Give me love like her**   
**‘Cause lately I’ve been waking up alone** _

 

**Chaeyoung**

No one wants to receive those calls. You never know what you are going to find or what you’re going to do when you find it. You hope it’s nothing (and most of the time it is) but sometimes as your hand pounds on the door in tune with your heart you know a tragedy has already played out long before your invitation was thought up. _Maybe it’ll be another false alarm._

I knew it wouldn’t be.

Sometimes you can tell: The address has to be tracked down, not given, the building seems to be on the verge of half-slouching over itself - paint long-since stripped from the walls and cardboard in the windows, the city becomes cold and slinks away into the far distance. _Heck_ , even the door gave in without a fight; it was tired and just gave up when we pushed.

I tried a little to swallow back swarms of doubts. Maybe she would be okay. Whether I was referring to the woman dispatch told us about or myself I wasn’t sure.

I was the first in, through the doorway and stepping my boots over the splinters of rotting wood now scattered over the faded damp colour of the concrete. At first I didn’t see her - instead my eyes swept over the scene, combing through all the objects in my mind and categorising them - something my training demanded if the situation called for that later.

There wasn’t much in the room - a lone pillar sagging under the ceiling split the centre and was kept company only by a grimy-looking sink, a small traveller’s kettle, a few clothes hooks and a reliable but worn desk. Ranks of tools and two wooden figures clutching at each other provided the only other clues into this woman’s life.

Then I saw it.

I felt something drop in my stomach.

If I were here for any other reason, perhaps I could have convinced myself that she was sleeping on that mattress on the floor. Her eyes could have almost been lightly closed, gently shutting out the outside world that her body loosely curled into itself to escape, arm resting barely on the surface, head tilted limply to listen to the dreams around her. There was an odd stillness that hung about, cold lingering in the air as if it were a spectator and the cruel events some sort of Shakespearean drama. But something at her back caught my attention - I couldn’t be seeing it correctly because it looked like... _wings?_

Just as I had learnt closer, calling my partner over and swallowing back sharded regret the image blurred, flickered like light playing on a film and then was gone. Just like that.

Plain vanished without a trace.

_What?_

She was stirring. Quickly I dropped down, my hand already shaking her shoulder, an overlay of white feathers and red-stained arrow tips imprinted just behind my eyes. The fingers that I gripped her bare skin with were white, the arm attached to it overly stiff and cumbersome.

Please, _please_ be okay.

A dull “Hey!” reverbed off the walls around but I paid it no mind - it wasn’t my main priority right now. It bounced closer and closer with dull thuds as my desperation grew, a high pitched buzz starting to muffle everything in my head. I barely even registered the backwards pulling at my torso.

Her eyes were so peaceful. Immediately the buzzing stopped, ceased instantaneously by the slight reflection of myself on the smooth depths and a slight jolt to my system while my senses drifted back to me.

Even my partner stopped pestering me, “What the hell Son?” falling discarded from his lips when he too realised that she was awake.

A moment passed where we just looked at each other, no one finding words to break the silence. Surprisingly, she spoke first.

“Hi.” She smiled tentatively, a dusting of red decorating her cheeks appearing as her face lit up in recognition and then happiness. It was kind of weird in a way, looking back, how upbeat she had seemed but I brushed it off at the time, fighting to keep my relief down and my thoughts on track. I needed to try and give off the appearance of a calm police officer (if I hadn’t completely ruined that already) and I needed to make sure she was okay.

The job wasn’t over just yet.

“Hi,” I said back, my voice a little too breathy for my liking. “I’m Chaeyoung.”

“Mina.”

“Sorry to disturb you ma’am, but we received a phone call-” She didn’t even spare my partner a glance while he explained the situation, preferring instead to search my face with eyes filled with something a little like awe. “-and we were wondering if you are okay. I apologise about my partner here, she obviously got a bit too emotional but now we know you’re safe we will leave.”

I pushed his hands away from me, sending him a glare and bending down again so that I was at eye-level of the now-sitting Mina (as I had just found out).

“Hey, are you okay?” I watched her think for a moment, maybe needing a bit of time to put her words together in her head. Before she could reply, I was pulled up to my feet again, dragged over to one side and turned to face my partner.

“What are you doing?” He hissed, jabbing his finger harsly into the soft part of my shoulder and then gesturing to the door. “Let’s leave.”

“What are _you_ doing? We need to check this out properly.” I glanced back over to the woman. She was watching us, eyes wide but innocent meaning she probably hadn’t heard what we had said. Even so, I lowered my voice slightly and pulled my partner so our backs were to her - I didn’t want her reading our lips or our faces. “It’s our duty to check that she’s fine.”

“And _she is_. Look, she’s even smiling.” He nudged me and looked back before continuing, his a little exasperation creeping into his words. “We can go. Our duty is to keep the streets safe and we’re obviously not needed here. Come _on_.”

“You don’t know that - she could be acting. We need to make sure.”

He huffed.

“How? What do you suggest then?”

We couldn’t just leave her here. Even as I thought about it protest rose up like sick, making me retch a little and branding my mouth with a foul taste.

“I...I don’t know okay. Maybe we should get her checked out at hospital?”

“Why. She’s _fine_.”

The image of her, motionless came back to me.

“Well I just want to be sure. _**Ok?**_ ” I met his glare, steel on my tongue and fire dancing behind my eyes. We battled it out for a moment, our conflicting willpowers clashing in the quiet pause and clandestine silence.

Finally he gave, admitting defeat with a heavy sigh and breaking the connection.

“ _ **Fine.**_ But you’re dealing with this - not me. I’m not wasting my time on this.”

In that moment I wanted to slap him so hard that he would have a hand-shaped area where his stubble would refuse to ever grow in again. He could take his attitude and shove it right up his ass - and I wasn’t referring to a donkey by that.

I found myself by the mattress again - looking at the stranger. _How was I supposed to do this again?_ It didn’t help that she was displaying nothing but 100% pure ernesty directed at me. It made putting together what I was going to say all the more a distracted process.

“Do you know why we’re here?” Her brow furrowed and she cast her eyes about the room, as if she were inspecting it for clues. I waited patiently for her answer, drumming my fingers against my knee and pretending that I didn’t notice her avoiding eye-contact until she thought I wasn’t looking, then stealing quick glances at me. I realised she probably wasn’t going to say anything.

“I’m going to take that as a no. Ok...do you have anyone that we can contact?”

This time only a few nail-biting, action-filled, _mind-numbingly dull_ moments passed before she shook her head so hesitantly that I almost missed it.

“No?”

She nodded this time.

“Alright then…” I trailed off, sighing as if that would make the air in this place just a little bit lighter. I wasn’t ready to deal with this sort of situation. _Why couldn’t I have had someone like Jihyo with me - that girl always knows what to say._

“Umm…” _Don’t bring it up, don’t bring it up. You don’t know how she will react._ “ _Sooo_...we are worried about your safety...” She met my eyes directly, her face both a puzzle to me and looking puzzled. “...and...er...we want to take you to the hospital.”

Nothing happened.

“Is that okay?”

She went into deep thought. My partner sighed, impatience written into every unsaid word.

I looked back at him as if to say _help me out here._

_Just hurry up_ his eye-roll snarked in reply.

Finally she spoke again.

“Wh-what will happen there?” It was quiet, nigh impossible to discern from the backdrop of distant cars and muted lives. Each word glinted with nervousness and apprehension, gentle like the fresh morning’s dew. She wasn’t being uncooperative - but it was very easy to tell that she wasn’t going to come with us just yet.

“They’ll look after you,” I started, casting back into my mind for anything vaguely useful. _Should’ve paid better attention in training, shit._ “They might ask some questions and stuff but you’ll be fine. Trust me.”

And somehow that worked. She came with us in the car, spending the journey sitting in the backseat, lost in thoughts just beyond the window. There followed another short argument between my partner and I as to whether or not to fill out an affidavit or just log it as an AAP and move on.

He was really getting into it, aggressively pointing out in hushed tones how much time we would be wasting if we didn’t just say we were assisting a person. “She’s here now, what more do you want?”

She could have walked away at any moment though. And so I felt a recently-developed protectiveness fight for me and soon I found myself filling out the paperwork that ensured temporary safety and counselling for the passenger in the car.

I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty when we drove away into the night, ready to help serve and protect other strangers from the terrors of the city; she was so trusting, so lost and confused. Who was going to look after her? She said herself that she had no-one to call - not one single person. How can someone live like that?

I sat in the passenger seat, watching brickwork blur and searching for that face in the reflection of my eyes.

 

-

 

I ended up going back 2 days later. I wasn’t sure if I was even allowed to but _heck_ I wanted to check everything so badly and nothing was going to stop me (not that anyone tried) - whether it be the sterile smell of chemicals that polluted the air or the sleep-deprived staff with endless supplies of clipboards and white coats.

I lied when the doctors asked how I knew her and said that we were friends and that we had met at a social that had happened a few weeks ago. Only one woman looked at me like she smelt rotten fish but either way I didn’t get to see her. They did have a reason (at least I think they did) but anything they did say became so swamped with technical terms that they may as well have spoken to me in spanish without the mumbo jumbo or the complicated-to-the-point-of-redundancy words - I would have probably understood more. _Seriously, you’d think that they’d have learnt by now that no-one knows what they’re on about. Maybe they like feeling clever - that one doctor seemed to be getting off on being a condescending jerk._

From what I gathered though, she seemed to be doing well and they predicted that they wouldn’t have to hold her for longer than the specified time. I made a mental note of this in my head, adding a commitment to the next day while I stood in the waiting room, uncomfortable plastic chairs surrounding me filled with even more uncomfortable patients. _I would be there for her incase no one else was._

 

-

 

Surprisingly, she didn’t seem angry when she saw me. She looked so nervous: hands fiddling with nothing at her sides, gaze glancing from person to person as if trying to figure out what she should do from them. Time seemed to slow when our eyes met from across the room, the pencil in my hand long forgotten, and we had an awkward little stare-off. I had no clue how she would react but then she sent me a small, embarrassed smile and I knew that everything was going to be okay at least.

I got up, tucking my stuff back into my bag and going over to her.

“Hey.” How was I supposed to do this again? I was practically a complete stranger to her and we barely knew each other’s names. My guilt only dictated that I should help her out a little, not what I should do or how to approach her. “Errrm…” I stalled, mind racing, I brushed my hand through my hair once more. _This was way harder than I thought it would be._ “Hi...Mina. Ummm...since I got you here...I was wondering...if I could offer you a lift?”

She thought for a moment before nodding slightly.

We kept up the silence out of the sickenly-sterile halls, past the receptionist playing space invaders and all through the walk to my car. I entertained a curiosity when I opened the door for her, wondering for a few seconds what she thought of its small red exterior. _Perhaps she’d expect something more sombre and business like?_ Or perhaps she didn’t expect anything at all. At least the interior didn’t stink of cleaning chemicals - that smell always makes me feel sick - but the whole body did shake a bit when I swung myself into the driver’s seat.

To try and kill the awkward mood I put on the radio to a pop-station and let the music do all the talking for me; it was a better nothing between us, allowing me to concentrate on the road rather than the steady breathing beside me in the passenger seat. It didn’t stop me feeling a little self conscious when I drove though, hands gripping tighter at the the valleyed texture of the steering wheel and very aware of how much my foot leant on the pedals each time.

It was a relief to arrive. Unfortunately, I didn’t really know how to start a conversation in this situation. _Would anyone?_ I just walked back with her, feeling more than a little embarrassed when we came to the door. Or what was left of it at least.

“Errrmm...Sorry about that.” I scratched at the back of my head, chuckling awkwardly to try and dissipate any tension. “I kinda went a bit overboard.”

“It’s okay.” Her voice bridged the gap between us but her eyes were still facing the floor, only glancing up at me occasionally. “It was almost gone anyways.”

I followed her through the entrance, tearing my eyes from her figure to comb through the surroundings. It seemed sparser than I remembered and mold seemed to taint the air that reached my nose, weighting the air. Those tools glinted at me, sharp edges promising things and the ranks ready for purpose once more. Everything was as silent as a grave. I didn’t like that.

Goosebumps littered my arms and I fought the urge to grow closer into myself even if it made me wish I had a thicker jumper on. She didn’t seem to mind it though.

“How can you live here?” I heard myself asking before I could stop it.

She shrugged. “I manage.”

I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to just leave her here - alone with nothing but bare-brick walls for company and tools for comfort - it didn’t sit right with me.

When I suggested she come and stay at my place instead I tried to pretend that my heart didn’t do a little hoppity-skip at the sight of her smile, and dismissed the whoosh of relief as only down to a sense of duty.

 

-

 

It’s funny how messy you can let things get. Don’t get me wrong - my place isn’t actually that bad - it’s just that, no matter how old you are, other people seeing the pile of your washing _including your oh-so-childish, tiger-cartoon underwear_ is always an embarrassing experience.

I cursed myself, wishing I had actually got round to putting that away earlier like I had promised and moved it off it’s podium (the sofa) and placed it on a much less conspicuous wooden chair in the corner of the room. It’s fine - the seat was half worn anyways and there was no way I was going to let anyone hurt their butt on what was basically just wooden slats at this point.

“I’m sorry about the mess,” I started, grabbing a stray pizza box and shoving it into the bin about as inelegantly as I could manage. _Great._

“It’s fine.” She said, still looking around at everything, eyes resting on the tv for a second, then drifting over towards the kitchen.

_Maybe she is…_

“Oh right! Do you- errr…wanna have some food?”

She focused on me now, small smile caught on her face. “Sure.”

“Oh-ok then...food coming right up…”

We ended up having cup ramen in the end, since it was one of the only quick things I had in my cupboards. _How do you make these things again? Tear the lid off, remove the sachet, add hot water..._

“We’re going to need to boil the kettle,” I stated, reaching out towards the kettle and accidently bumping into Mina a bit. “Oop sorry.”

Water gurgled out of the tap and sloshed around as I filled it for two, carefully watching the silvery stream fall until it was heavy enough in my hand. I then bopped the lid back on a flicked the switch, turning away when I heard the friendly rumbling and gentle light that signified it was getting ready.

“So it’s going to be about two min…” I trailed off. Mina was leaning against the counter opposite, doing absolutely nothing except staring at me with this intense look in her eyes. Before, when I first saw her, she seemed small, lost and confused. _Now…_

_Well, she seemed fixated on me, as if she were a carnivore and I was her helpless prey._

That kettle was taking forever to boil.

“What- is there something on my face?” I laughed nervously, feeling the tension that had crept in through the hairs on the back of my neck.

“You have pretty eyes.”

Just a simple sentence - but what an effect.

I’ve come across many people in my line of work (not all the savory types either) but none of them have managed to completely and utterly disarm me like she managed to. And with nothing but an innocent comment to boot. There was just some sort of way that she said it that was so... _arresting_. (And I know what I’m talking about - I’m a cop.)

It was like I was under a spell: When I had first seen her she had been coated in filth, grime trapped under her fingernails and grease caught in her tangled hair. She’d obviously been cleaned up - now instead of any of that I could could make out how smooth her skin seemed and how soft her lips looked. _Kinda inviting..._

That was a dangerous thought - as if she had heard my thoughts she glanced down too and the already small space between us seemed to shrink. She took a step towards me and now I was the one leaning against a counter, the rounded edge pressed again the palm of my hand.

What was happening? Her arms were resting either side of me, keeping me sandwiched in the trap while my fight or flight reflex tripped, causing my heart to pound fruitlessly in my chest. I couldn’t look away, caught, and I could faintly smell her as she came closer. Time seemed to cut and skip as she leaned further in, possessed by the moment…

...I briefly wondered if she would be able to taste the juvenile inexperience on my lips...

Then the kettle boiled.

We broke apart so quickly that I could still feel the ghost of her presence for a couple of seconds afterwards.

_Did she...want…?_

No, I was probably imagining it. Reading too far into lines that weren’t even there to begin with.

Nevertheless, I held the kettle like a shield between us, blabbering non-stop to try and ward off the awkwardness and whatever that had been for good. It didn’t seem to matter though - Mina herself had retreated a safe distance away, as if coming any closer would cause mortal danger.

We ate our “food” sitting on the sofa, watching some tv program that I hadn’t bothered to pay attention to as soon as I had put it on. At least it meant that we didn’t have to talk - and I could be as distracted as I liked without having to worry about any more of those moments...well...ish.

Since the sofa was so small, there was so little space that we were practically pressed together. It didn’t help that every time I shifted a bit over to try and give her more space, she just moved to fill it. I had to watch my limbs, making sure I didn’t fidget too much and disturb her. I figured that she might not feel all that comfortable in my house (I was still basically a stranger to her) so I let it be for a while.

Eventually it was time to sleep - I was fully aware that I had a shift the next day and I could already feel fatigue pulling at my eyelids. It was a struggle to convince her to take the bed, but even more so to actually get up to get the spare shorts and t-shirt that I had promised her since the sleepiness had settled in my limbs. Luckily though she did eventually get settled, leaving me to fetch a lone blanket to cover me on the sofa. It wasn’t all that comfortable but at least I could lie at ease, knowing that the window in my room was tiny and that the kitchen, including all the other dangerous things in the apartment, lay on a path past me.

I let myself drift off, chased by dreams featuring the woman sleeping in my bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading - please comment if you liked it so far


	3. New Cleaner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chaeyoung has to go to work and so she gets help from a friend...
> 
> (I suck at summaries okay)

**_Paint splattered teardrops on my shirt_ **

**_Told you I’d let them go_ **

 

**Chaeyoung**

TGIF my ass.

If only I had thought about this a bit more, then maybe I would have cleared today with my supervisor, not just yesterday.

It hadn’t quite crossed my mind when I first woke up, early in the morning, with a slight ache in my back. _Damn, I know that I’m small but I guess that my sofa is even smaller._

The rice cooker was doing its thing in the kitchen while I went to shake Mina awake. She was still wearing the band t-shirt and the short from yesterday (not that I was expecting anything else) but it was kinda a weird feeling to see someone in my own bed wearing my own clothes...but not a nasty one.

I didn’t spend much time at the table; I had quickly scoffed down my food while Mina kinda poked at her food while the tiredness still showed in her eyes. Gentle steam arose from the mugs we were cradling in the chill of the morning. It was quiet and peaceful.

I made some excuse about something (I wasn’t sure okay) but I managed to escape into the kitchen to think a little. Obviously I couldn’t take Mina with me to work - which I had to leave for in half an hour or so - but I didn’t want to leave her alone in the apartment.

_Urgh this is what I get for being so impulsive._

Then suddenly a lightbulb went off in my head. I immediately made a phone call to one person, hoping they’d pick up. I almost passed out right there and then when the gentle static started, indicating the line was open.

“Jihyo? Hey, I need a favour…”

~~~

**Jihyo**

Something vaguely Chaeyoung-shaped rushed towards the keys on the table, spun through the miniscule gap I created with the doorway and yelled a “gotta go” over her shoulder as I opened the door.

I shook my head, tutting quietly under my breath as I reorientated myself and draped my coat over one of the slightly crooked but highly colourful pegs on the wall that I remembered from my last visit a few months ago. The same clutter inhabited the space: Sheets of paper and folders close to falling apart were scattered in a cascade over the table, some spilling onto the floor in unsorted jumbles; a small variety of packaging from a variety of different crisp brands, soda makers and candy manufacturers could be found on counters; and just general _stuff_ was discarded everywhere but their logical homes. It wasn’t awful - it still managed to smell somewhat decent and the floor was by no means innavigable - but even so, it was clear that she hadn’t always cleaned up after herself.

On the sofa was the girl that (I presumed) Chaeyoung had told me about on the phone. Her hair was half-tied up in a messy bun and her posture was impeccable, back straight as a rod. She hadn’t seemed to have noticed my presence yet, eyes still searching the space beyond the closed door.

I went up to her, almost tripping on some stray socks, and tapped her on the arm, causing her to jump a little.

“Hey there. I’m Jihyo,” I said, watching her eyes dart round my face, taking me in a bit. “I’m here to clean. Chaeyoung might have mentioned me?”

“Oh okay.”

“I’ll just be around, doing some stuff, okay?”

“Yeah,” she nodded, turning back to the program chattering away in the background. She didn’t seem much like the talkative type nor did she seem like a very outgoing person - yet somehow she was here in Chaeyoung’s flat - the same Chaeyoung who had called me earlier and asked me to look after her. _What the hell did you get yourself into, Son?_

Still, she wanted me to pretend to be her cleaner, so clean I would do. But where to start? There was so much here I could do...

Heck, I could even see the remains of some concealer amongst other assorted stains back from where we’d all got really trashed and did each other’s makeup. I chortled a little at the memory, recalling how silly we had all looked then - not to mention a certain _someone_ ***cough*** Nayeon ***cough*** went around doodling on everyone’s faces. Jeongyeon had definitely drawn the short straw then - somehow the mischievous devil had managed to misplace the pen she had used for everyone else and so, in her drunken stupor, she used the next best thing - a permanent marker discovered in one of the kitchen drawers. Two days afterwards, she had to explain to a dozen coworkers or so why she had “Daddy Jeong” smack-bang in the centre of her forehead, as clear as when it had been written. They all had a good laugh about it later, and it gave Jeongyeon the chance to be the one to give Nayeon a dead arm, for once.

_Well I can’t really do anything about the stains until I move some of this junk from the living room._

I decided to shift the endless scattered collections of washing perched throughout the room. Scooping a generous pile up from a wooden chair, I consulted my memories for the basic layout of the apartment. They weren’t particularly clear - we usually would spend our time elsewhere but from occasional movie nights with friends and other gatherings I had a general idea of where everything was.

I have to admit, I did laugh a little when I opened her drawers to see them filled with nothing but band t-shirts and sweatpants. She was well known for her distinct lack of fashion sense, choosing comfort over style because ‘my work clothes are already uncomfortable, do you think I want to spend my free time being uncomfortable? Hell naw!’ but the complete lack of anything else did cause me to chuckle. I shoved some of the clothes unceremoniously into the drawer and shut it, opening others so I could put the socks in their rightful place.

After ferrying clothes back and forth between the two rooms, occasionally having to rescue a straggler that had fallen onto the floor, I grabbed some of the empty bottles and other rubbish and brought it into the kitchen, tutting at the discarded forks in the washing up bowl and the leftover cup-ramen tubs. I ran the hot tap, checking it with my hand to see if it was warm enough while rinsing the bottles out and binning the rubbish that couldn’t be recycled.

“She’s pretty messy isn’t she?”

I was halfway through adding some washing up liquid when she spoke from behind so I accidentally squeezed a bit harder than I should, causing more yellow than expected to come out the bottle and it almost slipped into the already-forming bubbles.

_Where did she come from?_

“Oh, you scared me.” I said, putting the bottle back by the sink and turning round to face her. “Weren’t you watching tv?”

The other girl shrugged. “I was, but there wasn’t much on apart from some nature documentaries and this weird film about tree elves or something. So I thought I would see if you needed any help.”

“Oh, right. Thanks...errr-”

“Mina.”

“Thanks...Mina. I’m just going to do some washing up right now but if you wanna help by drying up that’d be grand.” I pulled the nearest drawer open, rifling through it for a tea towel but ultimately finding none. “Tea towels, where are you tea towels?” I muttered, searching more places.

Mina giggled quietly behind one of her hands. “How often do you come here to clean?”

“Oh errr,” I brushed my bangs out of my eyes as I looked at her. “Not much actually. I have a proper job but sometimes she manages to rope me into cleaning the place. It’s usually just before she has Jeongyeon coming over - that girl can be a neat freak at times.”

“Why doesn’t she do it herself?”

I sighed. “I dunno really. Well, I sort of do. She has a really messed up sleep schedule due to the graveyard shifts and everything else that she needs to cover. Chaeyoung loves her sleep, so I bet that she just goes to sleep almost as soon as she gets in.”

“Poor thing.” She looked off into the distance.

“Yeah” I joined her in the silence for a little before finally finding a tea towel hidden away. “But I can help her out sometimes because I have a pretty flexible schedule as long as I attend the meetings and do the work on time.” I passed it over to her and then headed over to the sink, turning off the water so the bowl didn’t flow over.

“What do you do?”

The water sloshed around the gloves and I grabbed the tubs, pulling them in and submerging them. “I’m a developmental editor - it’s basically editing but thinking about the big picture at the same time. I’m not really sure how to describe it? I meet with authors and help them with deadlines as well as worrying about structure and pacing of the whole manuscript. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.”

“So basically I help with style and structure and I occasionally have to fact check some stuff. It’s not always fantastic but I still love doing it - you get to help make this thing into something amazing.”

“It sounds pretty good.” I put the tubs upside down on the draining board, leaving them for Mina to dry.

“Sounds pretty good.

“Yeah it is.”

I moved onto the forks and the gentle lapping of the water filled the lull in conversation. I contemplated asking her how she had met Chaeyoung...then immediately decided that it would be a terrible idea. _Perhaps I should play it safe?_

“Hey, guess how I first met Chae.”

Mina looked up from the tubs, signalling her interest.

“It was actually at my first job. We were both in high school - I had almost graduated and she was a few years below me. I actually had no clue that she even existed until we started working together (it was a shoe shop).” The forks were now clean and I passed them over to her. “I was the person who had to show her the ropes when she first joined. She was pretty alright at it but she could never reach some of the high shelves without the use of the ladders - so everytime she had to try and get up there she’d either get one of use to do it for her or see if she could get away with not doing it. Let me remind you, this was a shoe shop and so we had a store out back with all our stock - with lots and lots of shelves.”

Mina giggled. “Wow.”

“I mean every time we shared a shift and I had to get something from the back I almost broke my neck on boxes she’d just left on the floor I swear. I didn’t mind working with her though - there was this one guy, Taeyang, who was convinced he could dance to anything and wouldn’t stop talking about it. In all fairness he was a pretty good dancer but it sucked because he would alway be dancing to the crappy elevator music that was playing and not working.”

“But Chaeyoung did?”

“Well...as long as she could reach it.”

We both laughed.

~~~

She had no coffee in the flat. I cursed Chaeyoung, separating me from my beloved fix at a time such as this. Instead I had to turn the kettle on, settling for a cup of tea as a lousy but well-needed substitute. Very soon I was cradling the hot drink, feeling the warmth of the china pressed up against my fingers and taking short sips of the caffeine-y heaven between moments of blowing ripples to cool it down. Despite this, I still managed to burn my tongue and it tingled in that unpleasant way that I knew I’d feel later which the bitterness did nothing to soothe. Still, it was nice to hold between my hands and taste the steam’s aroma while I stared blankly at the cupboard opposite.

 

_“Jihyo? Hey, I need a favour…”_

 

_“Chaeyoung? It’s barely gone seven - what could you possibly need right now?”_

 

_“Look, it’s a long story okay and I promise I’ll tell you everything later but right now there’s a girl in my flat-”_

 

_“If you’ve just hooked up with someone and you want me to get rid of them then no can do.”_

 

_“No! It’s not like that. I just- I’m worried about her okay? I can’t be sure that something bad won’t happen to her if she’s left alone and I have to go to work right now.”_

 

_“This isn’t something dangerous to do with work is it? Son Chaeyoung if you are harboring some stray criminal I swear-”_

 

_“No! It’s not related to work! Well...it kinda is but it’s not dangerous. Please? I really need your help and no one else is around.”_

 

_“I’ve got a deadline coming up and you’re not the only person who has to- ...fine. But you’ll owe me. What do you need me to do?”_

 

_“Can you come over and look after her while I’m gone. I’ll say something like you’ve agreed to clean for me and then just make sure she doesn’t leave or do anything stupid.”_

 

_“What do you mean stupid?”_

 

_“Just you know...stuff.”_

 

_“Chaeyoung!”_

 

_“Please?”_

 

_“...fine. I’ll be there in half an hour.”_

 

I glanced at the girl sitting crossed-legged on the sofa, completely immersed in some classical music from one of the tv’s five radio channels. After the conversation I had gone off to do some other stuff in the flat to still keep up the pretense of being a cleaner but right now, I was enjoying this time by just thinking.

I didn’t know the full details, but the situation certainly seemed interesting.

 

_What have you got yourself into Chae?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the part where I beg for comments, right?  
> I love leaving references to writing I haven't even done yet XD
> 
> In all seriousness, please comment if you enjoy it, leave kudos too. Thank you to everyone who has shown me support here :)


	4. New Clothes

**_You know I’ll fight my corner_ **

**_Maybe tonight I’ll call ya_ **

 

**Chaeyoung**

If there’s one thing I know about Mina, it’s that she can manage to make anything look graceful. Even then, haunting the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, she managed to wear my slightly-too-short trousers as if they were supposed to look like that, showing off some of her long legs and exposing the smooth skin to the air. I swear, she could be a model with the natural elegance that enchants her every movement.

I finished up with the the rice, putting it in two bowls and bringing them to the table, smiling at the other girl as I passed by her. She returned the gesture and I felt a happy tune sneak into my head - having someone else around to share stuff with made everything a little more exciting in my life.

Careful not to spill anything, I set the bowls down at the two remaining places, the rest of the table covered with her things that we hadn’t sorted out yet. When we sat down next to each other she didn’t start to eat until I had, watching me for a few seconds before tucking into her own meal.

“Hey, do you wanna go to the mall today?” We really needed to sort out those trousers - she must be feeling cold (plus it my pride was a little hurt whenever she transformed my shirts into crop tops just by wearing them).

“Huh?”

“I mean, to get you some more clothes since you can’t really keep on wearing my clothes…”

“Oh,” the other girl said slowly, pausing slightly. “Right.”

_Damn me and my awkwardness._

“It’s just...you’re kinda taller than me and...I dunno, you’d probably be more comfortable? We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

I added that last part quickly, not wanting to force the other girl into anything that she didn’t want to. I mean, I had already pretty much insisted she stay with me, a virtual stranger, at my place and had gone to get her stuff from her place - that was a huge step and I didn’t want to creep her out more than I may have already done.

Originally I had hoped that she would’ve not wanted to go with me but when I asked her after I got home she had jumped at the chance to come with me. That fact alone caused my heart to lurch, worrying about what things she might have there or the plans she may have in her head.

Fortunately, apart from those wooden figurines that she had (which kinda freaked me out with their faceless-ness not gonna lie), everything we retrieved was pretty standard. The only problem was that her clothes were, for lack of better words, threadbare, grimy and falling apart. There was no way I would let her wear stuff like that so when we got home I pointed out to her where I kept all of my clothes, trying to tell her that she was allowed to wear them without being too overbearing (I hoped).

A lot of our communication remained unspoken, like her staying at my place: We hadn’t actually discussed it much, but I hoped she wouldn’t go back to that dump of an apartment - as long as Mina was comfortable with it, I was fine with letting her stay as long as she needed.

 

~~~

 

I wasn’t really sure what kind of clothes she’d be into to be honest. It’d taken me about twenty minutes of aimlessly wandering the shopping centre until I’d realised this, remembering my extreme deficit of a fashion sense. _What if she’s one of those people who’s extremely fashion conscious and she’s been judging me all this time?_

I snuck a look at her, watching her gaze at all the different colourful shop names. _Nah, I don’t think she’d be like that…_

“So errr...what kind of clothes do you want?”

She shrugged.

“Umm...right.” _Shoot, I was kinda hoping she would have some idea…_ “Well...I...there’s nothing at all you want?”

“Not really.”

“Oh.” _Well in that case…_

I grabbed her arm, pulling her into the nearest sports shop. _If she doesn’t want anything in particular then I guess we’ll go for comfort over style._

We browsed a couple of racks of everything from polo shirts to trackies. There was an awkward moment when I almost walked into a changing room that was already occupied (prompting a small giggle from Mina while my face burned) and when we had finally gathered a small collection of tops and trousers the cashier forgot to take the tags off everything, meaning we were stopped by security on the way out.

We awkwardly chuckled it off but afterwards Mina asked me if she needed to pay for anything since I had spent quite a bit on her.

“Don’t worry about it,” I reassured her, beaming to show my willingness to get stuff for her. “Besides, I don’t think you’d be able to.” I froze up. _Shit, I wasn’t supposed to say that._

“I did have a job at one point you know.” _Double shit, now she was thinking about before we met. Bad. Bad. Bad. Well done Son Chaeyoung you done fucked up._ “I just...stopped turning up at one point. I guess I was fired.”

“Oh.” _You’ve just brought up her past and all you can say is ‘oh’? Fucking fantastic. Good job._

The air now was awkward between us now. Swinging my arm dramatically as I walked, I looked everywhere for a distraction or change of topic until I suddenly came across the perfect thing.

“Hey, you ever been to a penny arcade?”

“No? Wh-”

“Great! Let’s go!”

I quickly grabbed her wrist, dragging her along before she could say anything else. I was in full damage-control mode at this point, my heart pounding, hands slightly sweaty as I strained to pull her with me. _She would have fun today dammit_.

Soon we were crowded by all sorts of blaring lights and flashy blips and blops from various machines all crammed under the same low-seeming ceiling. Everywhere we turned there were enticements to play and _win_ , the exit swallowed up in all the madness while we wandered the labyrinth of alleys formed by the games.

I finally let go of her when we reached the change machine, myself reaching into my wallet to get a couple of pound coins out, cursing my fingers as they chased and slipped on them for way too long before finally retrieving them.

“It’s just like a normal arcade,” I explained, grabbing two plastic tubs from the side. “But you only use pennies here. So yeah, you can’t really lose much money - unless you properly spend too much of your time here. Anyways, here you go.”

The machine whirred as I slotted in the first pound, a cascade of coins clattering into the tub which I then handed to Mina. She just looked at me blankly, face a little red probably from that all that running I made her do.

“That’s a hundred pennies so you’ve got a hundred goes - what are you waiting for?”

“I-ermm…”

I grabbed my own tub and walked over to the nearest game, beckoning her over with a quick “come on”.

“So this one’s a sliding shelf - the aim’s to get one of those thingies on the shelves to fall by getting the coins to shift under them. Like this!” I slotted one of my precious coins into the gap, watching it thunder down towards the first shelf. Time seemed to slow, everything took in one deep breath as it made the final approach, the shelf retracting and showing the space where the coin could land. _Heck yeah, it was going to make it_ . I felt my chest swell in pride, _I’m a pro and I didn’t even know it_.

“See it’s easy, if I can-” Just as I was celebrating my victory, triumphantly proclaiming like a trumpet my skill, a sight so horrendous struck my eyes and I watched helplessly as the shelf slid out again and my precious coin landed perfectly ontop of several others, sliding harmlessly as another layer. _Dammit._ I didn’t even bother finishing my sentence, not caring to dig myself further into this hole.

When I looked at Mina she sported the ghost of a smirk oh her face. I knew exactly what was going through her head.

“As if you could do any better.” I snarked, playfully shoving her. She started to grin a little, raising her eyebrow.

Sure enough, she got one on the lower shelf on her first try, the whole layer of coins shifting to accommodate the new companion in their ranks, some inching even closer to the drop point. _Just my luck_. Still, the defeat and her shit-eating grin afterwards didn’t really sting that much, not when we she seemed so carefree and flushed with accomplishment. It suited her.

“Pah, beginner’s luck.”

“Maybe I’m naturally gifted.” She retorted gently in her smooth voice, smiling shyly at me before turning back to the machine. “I bet I can do it again.”

To my dismay, she did indeed sink the next three attempts, each coin pushing the others a little further towards the edge. _Shit she’s good, still, gotta keep up appearances…_

I scoffed. “You’re just lucky.”

“Maybe,” she said, turning to look at me straight in the eyes.“But it’s not actually tha…” Her words trailed off, voice faltering like she had just thought of something.

I tilted my head slightly, trying to decipher her when suddenly I felt the atmosphere shift slightly: The lights seemed to dim, the clutter of noise melting away into echoes and everything stretching with nothing but Mina at the epicenter.

All I could see was her, all I could hear was her, all I could smell was her delicate jasmine scent. _Mina Mina Mina._ She glowed in front of me like an sweet angel of cupid, softening the edges in my vision.

 

_I kinda want to kiss her._

_...fuck._

 

I forcefully ripped myself away, tearing my thoughts from whatever that was and blinking in the harsh neon lighting once more. _What the fuck are you doing Son? Get a hold of yourself._

“I’m...just gonna go over here and play pinball.Yeah.” My wavering voice was far-too loud in my ears, ringing in my head. Mina seemed to mirror my disorientation but there seemed to be something else...I couldn’t put my finger on it though. “Do you wanna come?”

“No thanks, I’m fine.” She waved vaguely in the direction of the shelf machine behind her, eyes fixed on the ground. “I’m gonna do this for a bit I think.”

“Oh, right.” I said, unsure how to continue on from there so I just ambled over to the game, scuffing my feet on the carpet. I had no clue how to actually play it, lost between the flashing lights and various numbers. Before I dived in to a surely-fruitless endeavor, I looked back to check on Mina.

Her face was scrunched up, concentration and frustration equally present in her expression as dejected coin after dejected coin missed its mark.

 

~~~

 

Eventually we both ran out of money. I sighed emptily, wishing for another couple goes but amicably leaving my post at the game, moving back towards where Mina had last been stationed. I found her glaring intensely at the machine and the coins inside, as if the pure, concentrated force of her mind could shift them just a couple more centimeters…

_I mean telekinesis would be kinda cool…_

She jumped at the tap on the shoulder, still not fully untensing when her eyes rested on me.

“You done?” I asked, fully aware her tub was empty.

“Ummm...yeah.” She looked away again, body language screaming insecurity. I didn’t like that - lacking energy and enthusiasm - so I tried to rouse her spirit.

“Well...let’s go then!” I said, grabbing her hand, trying my best to seem upbeat and cool. “Come on, it’s getting late!”

For seemingly the millionth time that day, Mina allowed herself to be dragged somewhere by me, but not without glancing down at our joined hands first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah, another chapter. How did you guys find it? I'm kinda struggling a little with the characters but I think I got what I wanted out of this chapter. Stay tuned for more soonish (hopefully)!


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